ICS Daily Devotions
We Have A New Family In Christ
John 1:12 (NKJV) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
In the Bible, there is a story of Mephibosheth who was suffering in Lo Debar after his father Jonathan died in a battle with the Philistines. Mephibosheth was lonely, miserable, living in the refugee camp as an orphan. He feared for life because Saul, the father of Jonathan, was replaced by his rival David as the king over Israel after Saul had died in the same battle. However, the king David, who was Jonathan’s close friend and covenantal partner, was expressing God’s kindness, mercy and love, when he sent the chariots to fetch Mephibosheth into the palace to eat at the king’s table with the princes.
David being a type of Christ showed forth God’s expression in His mercy and love towards the sinners. We have been delivered from bondage of sin and placed into His family! God does not want us to live as orphans. He wants us to be part of a big family in His Kingdom. We are to dine at his table with the rest of the siblings in Christ. There is absolutely nothing that we have done through the work of righteousness that got us into this family of God. It is purely God’s grace, favor and mercy.
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
We have understood and experienced what is unconditional and perfect love based on what Jesus Christ has shown us. Therefore, we are expected to show the same kind of mercy, grace and love towards our fellow men especially the members of the household of faith.
We have a spiritual family the moment we are born again. We are never meant to be orphans in the family of God. There are many others who have also accepted Christ before our decision to make Jesus the Savior and Lord of our lives. We are to begin this new spiritual experience in the family of God. We are never meant to stay at home to watch cable TV and consider that as church.
Our relationship with God is personal, but it was never meant to be private. Believers now have the capacity to enjoy an intimate relationship with the Heavenly Father and the rest of His children. We live out that relationship through involvement in the local church.
Just like when a baby is born into the family, he or she is fed, protected, provided and guided through his or her growth from infancy to adulthood. It works the same way in the family of God. We will be fed spiritual milk to solid food after we are born again and will have fellow believers to journey with us.
In turn, there are other people in the family of God that He wants us to express His love towards them. If we choose to just attend church services and leave after they end without being involved the life of the church community, then we fall short in regard to our family members. They deserve to receive the expression of God’s love from us, and vice versa. Maybe, we might even feel that God does not care about us when we are in a crisis because we lack the Christian community. We may hinder the Lord to move people to express His love towards us.
Let us live together as God’s family and be actively involved in serving one another in love. Christ will be in our midst and we will fulfill God’s purpose with the church.
Sermon series: Our Church Experiencing God Together (CG campaign 1)
